What is Modern Slavery

Slavery is an umbrella term for activities involved when one person obtains or holds another person in compelled service. As such it is the status or condition of a person over whom any or all of the powers attaching to the right of ownership are exercised (129 Convention; approved in defining Art 4 ECHR: Siliadin v France (ECHR, 2005). Someone is in slavery if they are:

• Forced to work through mental or physical threat
• Owned or controlled by an ’employer’, usually through mental or physical abuse or the threat of abuse
• Dehumanised, treated as a commodity or bought and sold as ‘property’
• Physically constrained or have restrictions placed on his/her freedom.

The following definitions are encompassed within the term ‘modern slavery’ for the purposes of the Modern Slavery Act 2015.

These are:

• ‘Slavery’ is where ownership is exercised over a person.
• ‘Servitude’ involves the obligation to provide services imposed by coercion.
• ‘Forced or compulsory labour’ involves work or service extracted from any person under the menace of a penalty and for which the person has not offered himself voluntarily.
• ‘Human trafficking’ concerns arranging or facilitating the travel of another with a view to exploiting them.

Servitude can be defined as an obligation to provide one’s services that is imposed using coercion and is to be linked with the concept of ‘slavery’ described above (Siliadin v France, ECHR (2005). Forced Labour refers to all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily. (Source- Unseenuk.org)

Types of modern slavery

There are many different types of exploitation and areas that are considered high risk – these include, but are not limited to: (roll over the panels and click to explore each area)

SEXUAL EXPLOITATION: Adult entertainment industry, brothels, hotels, lap/pole dancing clubs, massage parlours, online streaming, saunas, street based prostitution

LABOUR EXPLOITATION: Agricultural farms, begging, cannabis farm (domestic house/warehouse), car wash, care homes, construction industry, catering trade (restaurants/take-aways), distributing charity bags, factories (e.g. fruit picking, chicken factories, etc.), market stalls/boot sales, nail bars, scrap metal dealers, sea farers, ship crews.

DOMESTIC SERVITUDE: child carers – nanny/au pair, cleaners, maids.

EU STATUS EXPLOITATION: forced marriage, sham marriage

FORCED CRIMINALITY: begging, cannabis cultivation, illegally working, sham marriage, theft.

FINANCIAL EXPLOITATION: benefit fraud, pay day loan

ORGAN HARVESTING: removal of eggs for black market sale, removal of organs for black market sale.

Victims of modern slavery

Anyone can become a victim of modern slavery – any age, race or gender. Modern slaves are sold like objects, forced to work for little or no pay, live in fear and squalor, have their freedom restricted and are at the mercy of their employers. We can all play a role if we are going to stop modern slavery in the UK.

In 2022, the National Referral Mechanism (NRM) received 16,938 referrals of potential victims of modern slavery, which represents a 33% increase in referrals compared to the preceding year (12,706).

Of the potential victims referred in 2022, just under half claimed that the exploitation occurred in the UK only, whilst 41% claimed that the exploitation took place overseas only.

Just over half 52% (8,854) were for potential victims who claimed they were exploited as adults whilst 41% (7,019) were for individuals who claimed exploitation as children.

The most common type of exploitation for adults was labour exploitation and for children was criminal exploitation

Potential victims from the Albania, UK and Eritrea were the three most common nationalities to be referred in the NRM.

You can find out more about statistics from the NRM 2022 report

What is Human Trafficking?

Human trafficking is international organised crime, with the exploitation of human beings for profit at its heart. It is an abuse of basic rights, with organised criminals preying on vulnerable people to make money. In most cases, victims are brought to the UK from abroad, but trafficking also occurs within the UK and children in particular are increasingly vulnerable to falling victim to exploitation.

The United Nations Convention against Transnational Organised Crime (the ‘Palermo Protocol’) describes trafficking as:

“The recruitment, transportation, transfer, harbouring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of abduction, of fraud, of deception, of the abuse of power or of a position of vulnerability or of the giving or receiving of payments or benefits to achieve the consent of a person having control over another person, for the purpose of exploitation. This includes the exploitation of the prostitution of others or other forms of sexual exploitation, forced labour or services, slavery or practices similar to slavery, servitude or the removal of organs. However, recent trends suggest that trafficking for labour exploitation could become more prevalent than other forms of trafficking. Child trafficking victims are brought to the UK for many purposes, including sexual exploitation, domestic servitude, benefit fraud, cannabis farming, street begging, theft and shoplifting”.

Victims can be internally trafficked within the UK, again their transport arranged by exploiters and abused and controlled in a variety of forms.  UK victims can also be trafficked outside the UK.

Who are the perpetrators?

Just like anyone can be a victim, traffickers and slave drivers also do not have a visible profile. However there are some patterns as explained by the Government.

The Government states:

“Traffickers involved in the recruitment phase are often of the same nationality as their victims, but at other stages of the process organised crime groups increasingly use the services available to them, regardless of nationality, in order to maximise profitability.”

However, not all modern slavery crime is perpetrated by organised criminal gangs. We know that some perpetrators are opportunistic individuals, who take advantage of the vulnerable. Some modern slavery crime is carried out through informal arrangements by individuals known to, and in some cases related to, the victim. This is particularly true of those who subject victims to domestic servitude.

Methods of control

Human traffickers and slave drivers use many methods of control to keep victims dependent so they can exploit them.

Control can be through giving false promises (offers of pay, job, perks), withholding of passport/ID documentation, drugs and alcohol dependency, restricting contact with outside world (from family, basic services), emotional abuse, physical abuse or threat of violence or death. This list is by no means definitive and there are many more methods of control used.

If you suspect someone is being controlled by another and may potentially be a modern slave then report it right away.